Introducing the Ramsar Convention to Tuvalu

Introducing the Ramsar Convention to Tuvalu

The Ramsar Regional Officer for Oceania, Solongo Khurelbaatar, visited Tuvalu to introduce the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands and its mission to the government and other relevant stakeholders at a workshop on the “Implementation of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) in Tuvalu” which was held on 5th to 6th April.

Tuvalu has signed up to a number of MEAs with the major ones being UNFCCC and UNCBD. To help the Government of Tuvalu in its process to effectively implement these agreements the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), in partnership with the IUCN Oceania Regional Office, is taking a series of trainings and workshops that aim at enhancing knowledge and capacities of national stakeholders. The first of such trainings was held on 5-6 April on Funafuti, Tuvalu involving government staff working in the area of environment and resource management as well as legal practitioners from public and private sectors.

During the training, Ramsar Regional Officer for Oceania Solongo Khurelbaatar gave a talk on the importance of wetlands and wetland ecosystem services, threats to these ecosystems, and what Ramsar Convention is doing to conserve these precious wetlands. Tuvalu is one of the most vulnerable countries to the impacts of climate change. The nation has seen frequency and magnitude of extreme weather events on the rise posing threats to their livelihood, food security and survival. As such, for the audience, supporting the role healthy coastal wetlands play in climate change adaptation and resilience building was one of the most interesting aspects of the work on wetlands. The audience was also interested to find out more about the Convention’s work, its benefits for small island nations such as Tuvalu, and examples of how joining the Convention can leverage better conservation and management of coral reefs and mangroves – the major wetland types in Tuvalu.